


i guess you're a lab rat now...

by Falcon (obligatory_word)



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Animal Transformation, Author Is Sleep Deprived, Crack, Crack Treated Seriously, F/F, Furry, Help, How Do I Tag, Human Experimentation, I Can't Believe I Wrote This, I Don't Even Know, I Will Go Down With This Ship, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I'm Sorry, Minor Alex Danvers/Maggie Sawyer, Minor Barry Allen/Iris West, Sexual Humor, Swearing, The Author Regrets Everything, What Have I Done, What Was I Thinking?, Why Did I Write This?, i blame discord
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-18
Updated: 2020-09-18
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:48:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26532397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/obligatory_word/pseuds/Falcon
Summary: Kara meets Lena over a dating website and this is their first time meeting.ORthe fic in which kara is a gay disaster and lena is a cute rat and barry just thinks kara is drunk
Relationships: Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor
Comments: 11
Kudos: 148





	i guess you're a lab rat now...

**Author's Note:**

> for my friends in the discord server, and credited to them. especially you, laura, thanks. without your game this wouldn't have come about.
> 
> i regret writing this, but it was one of the most chaotic pieces i've written in a while. i enjoyed writing it, but i also regret it HAHAHA. mainly cause i wrote it in a state of eternal tiredness.
> 
> i changed some stuff so i'm not copying wholesale and to fit into the characters we know and love because god knows they're very ooc in this but mostly everything is the same from the game we played. you're welcome.

“ALEX!” Kara shouted, flinging clothes around. “HELP ME OUT HERE!”

“Chillax, Kara,” Alex sighed, picking up the blue shirt and shaking it at her. “You need to take a breather first, and turn the damn music down!”

The loud bass echoed from the stereo, effectively forcing Alex to shout over the music. Kara paid no notice, still rifling through her closet.

Her phone did ping, and Kara shot out of the closet, diving into her bed to grab her phone, bouncing off of the bed with the force and landing on the other side of the bed, faceplanting. It was probably her! It was probably Lena, the woman she had met over Tinder, who was gorgeous and funny and smart and witty and… Kara’s hands shook as she checked her phone nervously. Oh God, what if Lena had changed her mind and is texting to cancel? Oh God, what happens then?

“If I had known it takes a hot lady to get you to get ready and presentable really quickly, I should have hot ladies text you more often,” Alex laughed at her sister as Kara pulled a face, sticking out her tongue at Alex as she checked her phone.

“It was Barry,” she sighed. “Telling me good luck on the date.”

“With previous attempts, you definitely need it,” Alex chuckled, ruffling Kara’s hair. “Come on. Go with blue. It brings out your eyes.”

Kara rushed, running over to her bathroom and hurriedly got ready, a multitude of thoughts swirling through her head as she practically pulled open the bathroom door, much to the amusement of Alex. The human whirlwind that was Kara was rummaging around, rambling excitedly (excitedly? Nervously? Alex was pretty sure it was a combination of both.) about what she wanted to talk about, what she was going to bring, whether it would go well in her opinion without actually going for it, and Alex found herself pressing what she dubbed the Kara Essentials™ into Kara’s hands. Her phone, her keys, an energy bar, her taser, her wallet.

“Okay, have fun. Don’t do anything stupid. Call me or Barry or Maggie if you need a ride, okay? Don’t hesitate to even call James. You remember those self-defence lessons I taught you? Don’t hesitate to use them if you’re in danger and can’t run away. I love you.”

“Alex,” Kara turned her head to look at her. “I’ll be fine.”

Alex smiled warmly at her. “I know that, but as your older sister, I’m allowed to worry.”

“Nothing’s going to happen, Alex. I have to go. I love you,” Kara beamed, giving her sister one last hug and pulling away. 

“I love you more!”

“Not true!” Kara shouted back, as Alex laughed and closed the door behind her. She felt the breeze rustle through her long hair as she stepped into the bustling street, heading for the university, where they were supposed to meet. She settled on a bench, underneath a weeping willow tree, pondering about the curious green eyes of the woman in the pictures.

That was when a squeak sounded, right next to her. Kara jumped, spotting a rat with smooth black fur and bright green eyes that looked awfully familiar… it was cute. Kara smiled, wondering idly if her potential partner was the rat, mostly because the eyes looked so familiar to Lena’s in the pictures she sent. Still, Kara felt a tugging in her heart to feed the rat with her energy bar.

Though there was another voice in her head, that sounded suspiciously like Alex, to shoot the rat.

Then she pushed the thought aside. That was horrible! What was wrong with her for entertaining the thought?! She was  _ Kara Danvers,  _ sunshine personified. That guns blazing mindset belonged more to her sister than herself.

She pulled out her energy bar, breaking off a corner and handing it to the rat a little warily since she wasn’t quite sure it would bite her. The rat squeaked, accepting the energy bar.

“Oh good… I didn’t expect that you were going to recognize me! There was… an incident since I took the pictures for my dating profile.”

Kara’s first reaction was to laugh. Her second reaction was to scream. Her third reaction was to slap herself in horror that she was entertaining the thought of having Alex kill the rat! The rat- Lena-rat. Lena. Her next instinct was to pinch herself to see if she wasn’t dreaming.

“I… uhm…” She couldn’t very well say that she recognized her because of her eyes. Frankly, that was a lie. Her eyes were familiar, but it hadn’t been enough for Kara to recognize her. But they were as pretty as she could remember. The photos she sent didn’t really give her eyes justice. “You were too cute not to feed. I didn’t know it was you though.”

“Oh… thank you…” she looked down and blushed, as much as a rat could. “Yeah, the rat thing is… new. It happened after we set a date and time to meet and I couldn’t text you because well… these…” she waved her tiny paws at Kara, “... can’t quite unlock my phone. I’ve been told it is rude to stand your date up though, so here I am.”

A million things were running through Kara’s head, mostly just squealing how cute Lena looked while she was explaining what was going on. Lena was very expressive with her hands- er, paws, as she waved them around like a normal person would to get their point across while explaining.

She should ask Lena what exactly happened to turn her into a rat, she should ask who did this to her, but alas, the situation was reminding her too much of the Frog Prince.

“Maybe a kiss could fix it,” she winked, doing fingerguns too.

She can distantly hear Alex screaming in her mind if she witnessed this. She was also very suddenly and keenly aware that her flirting game was horrible and this was not the best time to brandish it.

“Well… a scientist in a lab turned me into a rat, so I highly doubt a kiss would reverse the effects of an experimental serum,” Lena laughed nervously.

“So you’re a lab rat?” Kara blurted out, before she slapped a hand over her mouth.

Instead of Lena giving her the same look Alex gives her whenever she becomes the biggest klutz of the century, she was rewarded with laughter, soft and unrestrained. Kara watched in amazement as the nervous laughter became genuine, and Kara was entranced by the sound.

“I guess you could say that, yes,” Lena smiled, mirth shining in her green eyes.

“You know why they did that to you?” Kara asked.

Kara watched as Lena’s face dropped from a genuine grin to a more subdued look, almost withdrawing in on herself. 

_ God, a rat romance. I think after this is all over, I’ll hold off on watching Ratatouille for a while… if Ratatouille was a love story, that is. Also, gosh, she looks so sad, I really want to pick her up and just hug her… I’ll probably hurt her though. _

“I was part of the medical testing here in the university. I’m one of the scientists, but my mother wanted me to try the animal DNA testing to improve my… imperfections. I guess… it worked a little too well. They tried to take me to the head scientist, Dr Lyons… but I bit someone’s finger and escaped and I’ve been here ever since…” Lena’s tail drooped, and then her gaze went from Kara to something behind her. Kara startled, following her gaze. She had been very angry at the implications of Lena’s mother wanting her to improve her imperfections.

There was a man wearing a fedora, staring at them.

All of Kara’s instincts screamed danger, and she really wanted to glare at the man until she could somehow heat vision him into the floor, or grab Lena and fly up up and away or even superspeed away. But she wasn’t Supergirl, she couldn’t exactly do any of those things. She could intimidate the man, flip him off, but she doubted it would help.

The part of her that was still entranced to Lena was thinking some other nasty thought that she quickly banished from her mind as she held out her hand to Lena. 

“Jump on. We’ll move away from here and talk somewhere private.”

Logically, it made sense. A test subject escaped, they were right outside the heckin’ university where it happened, so obviously there would be someone who was in the know about what happened around. Kara wanted to kick herself for not picking up Lena as soon as she heard what happened, and they should have left as soon as Lena said that it happened at the university.

Lena jumped up into Kara’s hand and Kara clutched Lena close to her to keep her secure. The rat meanwhile, wrapped her paws around Kara’s thumb as she got up and began to speed walk away from the man, who was beginning to move towards them.

Now she really wanted that heat vision, as she walked faster, away from the man. There was a part of Kara that was panicking now, and there was another part that was squealing at how cute Lena was in her hand.

_ Focus, Kara! _

She needed an escape. A taxi? A crowd? She was huffing and puffing lightly as she began to rummage in her pocket with her spare hand, remembering what Alex had said.

She  _ could  _ call Alex, but the fear of Alex actually shooting Lena was now very, very real if she did that, so she decided not to. She could call Maggie, Alex’s girlfriend, but she doubted the police officer would believe her, as much as Maggie loved her and Alex. James, she was still awkward with and would probably make the situation worse… so that left Barry because Barry had been her partner in crime (quite literally) and had believed in her in the most ridiculous of situations. But Kara wasn’t sure if Barry was having sexy time with Iris, his girlfriend, but it was worth a try. Better off cockblocking Barry than being caught by a creepy scientist guard dude!

Thankfully, he picked up after three rings.

_ “Heya Kara! Are you back from your date already? That… was fast. That bad?” _

Kara almost screeched into the phone in panic, as she saw that the man was still pursuing them as she and Lena disappeared into the bustling streets.

She almost wishes that Alex or Maggie would show up now, because Barry was a forensic scientist and he had no fighting skills whatsoever.

“Pick us up,” Kara hissed. “Hurry.”

_ “Whoa- us? I don’t remember being your personal chauffeur-” _

“Barry. We are in danger right now and we could really use The Flash right now.  _ Hint hint wink wink…”  _ Kara huffed out the last part in exasperation and gritted teeth. She wouldn’t tell Barry about the rat thing yet. Too many people around. She held Lena close as they weaved through the crowd.

_ “Oh… OH! You mean The Flash, the super awesome getaway driver? Yeah, I’m on it. Give me a tick.” _

“We’ll explain later.”

It wasn’t hard to miss Barry’s haphazard parking, clearly positioned for a car ready to hit the gas and floor it. The man got further away, until Kara couldn’t see him anymore, and then she yanked open the backseat door and dove in.

“Hey, so what’s going on- why the fuck do you have a rat with you.”

“JUST DRIVE,” Kara hissed as Barry slammed on the gas, zooming away. She checked anxiously for the man, as the man looked angry and confused. That probably meant they had lost him.

“Can you please tell me what the fuck happened? Why call me and not Alex if you were in danger? Where’s Lena? Why on earth do you have a random rat?!” Barry asked, confused.

Kara mulled over what she wanted to say. She’d explain that Lena was the rat when Barry wasn’t exactly driving… he could actually get them all into an accident in shock.

“Just get to my place and I’ll explain there.”

Oh God, now that the adrenaline was wearing off, all Kara could think about was the implications of ‘going to her place’ if this was any normal occasion.

_ STOP THINKING LIKE THAT, DANVERS. _

Barry met Kara’s eyes in the rear view mirror and set his jaw, frowning. Kara recognized it as the face he wore whenever he was considering whether or not to go with whatever harebrained schemes they used to do. He mostly gave into them though. This time was no exception, as he sighed and continued driving.

As Barry pulled over in front of Kara’s apartment, more gently than his parking earlier, Kara wondered what the hell did she put herself into.

“So. What is going on?” Barry asked, trying to put on a serious face.

“Barry… uh… meet Lena,” Kara said timidly, gesturing to Lena in her hand. Barry’s face shifted from serious to gobsmacked shock. She swore she could see his mind rebooting. She decided to let him process the information for a bit and turned her attention to Lena. “How did you know that guy in the park?”

When Lena spoke, Barry looked between Kara and Lena. Lena. Kara. Then up at the ceiling. “I’m not prepared for this.”

With that, he promptly faceplants onto Kara’s couch.

“I remember that particular man. He was security detail, but he was the head guy looking for me for a few days since I escaped. This experiment… is rather unethical. It could get this place shut down, and well, proof of my existence in the public could ensure that.”

Kara was now steaming over the fact that Lena was out there, alone, as a rat, for a  _ few days.  _ She restrained herself from doing anything, and instead asked Lena if she wanted anything. She must have been hungry, out there alone for a few days.

It got Kara thinking. Maybe there were others turned into animals, suffering even worse fates. She gritted her teeth then sighed. She couldn’t get angry. They needed help to turn Lena back. She shuffled into the kitchen, pouring out a glass of water for Barry. She also contemplated whether to throw it at him, but decided not to as she broke off a piece of cheese as requested by Lena. The sight of Lena as a rat nibbling on the cheese made Kara’s heart lighter as she internally squealed. It was cute.

“So you know how to reverse it, right? You were one of the scientists there. And what about other people? Surely you weren’t the only one right?”

“There are other patients, yes,” Lena confirmed. “I saw them. I wasn’t the first test subject, and I certainly wasn’t the last. There was a way to reverse this, but I can’t exactly do anything about it given my current form here. The only way is to go back to the lab. I’m just… not so sure if they changed it.”

Kara sighed. So they needed to go back. She looked at Barry, who was drinking the water she had given him with large gulps. She glanced back at Lena, who was nibbling at the cheese still, and she allowed herself to smile at the situation, at the absurdity of it. 

They can do this. They can make this work.

“You’re kinda cute with that cheese,” Kara teased, as a way to defuse the tense atmosphere that had settled on the room. Then she turned to Barry. “You okay, Bar? Did your blood sugar drop?” 

“Funny,” Barry snorted. “You had more time to process than me, Kara, or you’re drunk. I don’t know how you’re handling the situation now, but still. I really hope you had more time to process than having a drink. But I believe you. That,” he pointed at Lena, “is pretty hard to explain away, and I’m stone cold sober. I think Iris is going to send me to a hospital if I told her what happened. And you to prison, because you’re loony as fuck.”

Kara stuck her tongue out at him, before turning back to Lena, who was blushing. “Do you know where the lab is, or the hours of the lab?”

“The science department at the university. The scientists are gone past midnight- usually I’m the only one still there.”

As Lena spoke, Kara was having a hard time containing her inner squealing at how cute Lena was. She could literally pick up Lena and kiss her, she was so damn cute-

_ Hold the brakes there, Danvers! _

“Hey, can you talk to animals?” Kara asked randomly. Lena shook her head.

Barry rolled his eyes, trying to figure out a plan. “We’ll go in after midnight. We’ll try and find a way to reverse it. There has to be a cure, and Lena was one of the scientists there. We can do this.”

They passed the rest of the day playing games. There was a part of Kara, a really deep and dark filthy part of her, that wanted sex. She had quickly shut that down as she squeed over Lena falling asleep in her shoe.

They had fun, but now they were standing outside the building, and Kara felt like she was a teenager again, trying to trespass just to vandalize the building. She had an uneasy feeling, not like the last times she had trespassed.

“Lena, guide us to the place. I’ll look for the file, hopefully understand it, we’ll try and find the reverse serum,” Kara babbled, as Lena put her paw on Kara’s cheek, stilling her. 

“Calm down. Relax. We can do this,” the rat didn’t seem as confident as she said, but it had the intended effect of calming Kara.

“Right.”

Barry pushed the door open with a squeak, causing Lena and Kara to look at him.

“Come on, you didn’t take me along on all those crime trips to be useless,” Barry rolled his eyes. “Let’s go.”

With Lena leading the way, they found their way to the lab and office. The lab was a mess, paper strewn everywhere, test tubes in racks. The room was dark, but Kara saw a door at the other end of the room, with light spilling out the bottom.

“There.” Lena pointed, and Kara could hear shuffling from the other side.

Kara took a bunch of pictures as she quickly shot a gesture at Barry, who nodded and quickly walked to the door.

“What was that?” Lena asked.

“We came up with hand gestures while we were still doing crimes. That particular one meant for him to stand guard and watch out for danger. It’s handy, it’s why we didn’t get caught as much. Shouting would have gotten us caught a lot more.” Kara paused and readied herself, hand going to her pocket for her taser. “Something’s in there.”

When Kara opened the door, it was… not what she was expecting.

First, Kara was  _ tall.  _ Granted, Barry was taller than her, but she liked to consider she was taller than average. But this person was gigantic, and they were hunched over. As soon as the door opened, two ears pricked up, like a cat, as they slowly turned as if from a scene of Frankenstein. Kara’s grip on the taser faltered, her mouth was dry. There was an unruly mane around their face as they turned to face the duo, tilting their head in almost catlike and curious fashion. Their eyes narrowed to slits, and they smiled a wolfish smile, baring sharp, white teeth.

“Lena…” they purred, and Kara could feel the vibrations of the sound through the air. 

“Dr. Lyons…” Lena squeaked as the good doctor flashed their claws.

Kara really wanted to scream. Internally she was freaking out, and she was pretty sure it was showing on her face. Still, she fought to regain some semblance of control.

“Who’s that? Don’t know her.”

Lena snoutpawed. The doctor laughed, a deep, rumbly sound that made Kara step back.

“Kara Danvers, the one Lena has been waiting so eagerly to meet. Yes, I do believe you do know her. You were supposed to be on a date now, yes?” they purred, regarding Kara with dark eyes. “Such a shame she didn’t show up, but a rat did. A rat, with her voice and her eyes and her hair. Since you don’t know this rat… you may as well give it to me, and if you never speak of this, I’ll let you live…”

Kara’s mouth went dry at seeing the muscles ripple underneath the fur on the doctor’s body-  _ no, bad Kara! _

“No!” Kara’s voice broke as she pulled the trigger for the taser, stunning the hybrid-person as she quickly stepped over her. “But you’re kinda hot though.”

“Please focus,” Lena groaned. “Top drawer.”

Kara managed to yank out the entire drawer, which worked well as she messily sifted through the papers, as Dr Lyons groaned from the floor. Crumpling a bunch of paper in her hands, she bolted for the test tubes and vials with all sorts of colours and smells and god- honestly, Kara felt like Kuzco from the Emperor’s New Groove, to just try everything and see what works.

“Not a good idea, some chemicals could react and cause something… explosive,” Lena sighed as Kara freaked out further, as Barry quickly came into the room, hearing the thump of Dr Lyon’s body hitting the floor.

“Okay, so, Lena, which one is the serum to reverse things?” Kara asked frantically as Dr Lyon’s snarls became louder and more coherent.

“I- I don’t know, for all I know it could be anything!” Lena shouted, frazzled. “None of them are labelled! They never allowed me to look at the reverse serum!”

“Can’t we carry them all?” Barry asked.

“Too many. It’s packed.”

Kara was about to retort back with something decidedly not PG when Dr Lyons charged at them, ripping the door off its hinges as they roared.

“You will NOT SHUT THIS PLACE DOWN!”

“Kara, the pictures!” Lena reminded, and Kara scrambled to grab her phone and type out hurriedly a twitter post.

“Don’t come any closer, or I’ll-- I’ll have you cancelled on twitter,” Kara said feebly.

“Not how I would phrase it, but yes. Sure, let’s go with that,” Lena sighed.

“You wouldn’t,” Dr Lyons growled.

“I just have to press this button, see-”

“STOP!” Dr Lyons shouted, then sighed. “We are a lab dedicated to fixing and improving humanity. We are  _ trying,  _ so God help us, to fix people. Lena, you wanted to do this.”

“I wanted to help, not become a lab rat,” Lena said sardonically. “None of this was safe or ethical. You didn’t even have my full consent!”

Dr Lyons’ ears drooped. “We were trying to rectify that, but you escaped. We were trying to help people.” They looked off to the side and growled, looking annoyed. “I’ll change you back, but I want your phone in exchange. And as Lena would tell you, we are not the only ones working on a project like this.”

Now Kara kind of felt bad. She sighed, lowering her phone. 

“Fine. Change Lena back, then I’ll give you the phone. Is that a deal?”

They sighed, looking at Kara before picking out a vial from the mass of vials in front of them. “Deal. And before you apologize, I will tell you that I deserve the tasing. I acted like a downright fool and my form would have scared the shit out of anyone. But- you could have destroyed all of this, which would have put a halt to cures like hearing loss and tooth loss.”

“It is… important,” Lena sighed, acquiescing to it. “But it was unethical. You never had my full consent, and before you could rectify anything, I was already a rat.”

“So this was all… a misunderstanding,” Kara said slowly.

“Don’t get me wrong, if I never escaped they would have kept me as a rat for a really long time,” Lena said flatly. “I’d really like that vial now. And maybe a more ethical way of going about things.”

“But there isn’t…” Dr Lyons hissed back, before sighing. “Maybe you’re right. As both one of the reluctant scientists, and the test subjects. We really should change things.”

They hand over the vial and Lena clutched at it, unwilling to part with it.

“Consider this my resignation, Dr Lyons. And if I may, one last favour? Tell my mother to go and fuck herself.”

This makes everyone in the room laugh a little.

“I’d be happy to. But please, leave. Never tell anyone what you saw. We are trying for the good of humanity, but… I’d hate to see all the progress shut down because of your stupid mother.”

“Hey,” Lena sighed. “If you ever need me, you know how to reach me.”

“Guys,” Barry called. “Security is coming. We need to go now.”

Dr Lyons nodded. “The serum takes a while to kick in. It’s best to take it when at home. And… good luck. Both of you. And you too, there at the back.”

“Nice to see I’m not forgotten,” Barry joked, as they left.

Lena seemed to have considerably relaxed as they left, and Barry drove them back to Kara’s apartment.

“Dr Lyons just lost their way for a moment there. They really wanted to help,” Lena said softly as Kara listened. “I should have told you to talk it over with them as soon as we knew it was them. But I saw them… and I didn’t know whether it was them or not.” 

“But they said things would change now,” Barry said, as they entered Kara’s apartment. 

Kara smiled at Lena as she deposited her on the bathroom floor with a pile of clothes and her vial. 

“I’m gonna miss you being a rat. You were so cute.”

“Wow, gee, thanks,” Lena laughed. “But we should probably have a make-up date tomorrow.” 

Kara beamed, getting up. “Yeah, but first, let’s actually meet in person and just chill.”

Ten minutes later, Lena was coming out of the bathroom as her human self, dressed in Kara’s oversized sweater, and Kara just thought that Lena in her clothes would be infinitely cuter than Lena as a rat.

“Careful Kara, your gay is showing,” Barry snickered.

All Kara could do in response was chuck a pillow at him. Then Lena pressed her lips to Kara’s cheek in a tiptoe.

“Thank you for saving the day, my handsome prince,” Lena teased. “Even if it wasn’t fixed with a kiss.”

“Save it for your date,” Barry coughed. “Your very gay date with a very gay disaster.”

If Barry showed up to a date with Iris with imprints of a throw pillow thrown really hard at his face, he’d simply say it was worth it.

(After all, he got to be best man, so he wasn’t quite complaining.)

**Author's Note:**

> leave comments if you want, i guess?
> 
> also made dr lyons redeemable because if i ever make a follow up, i want dr lyons in it.


End file.
